


Forever Your Father

by RikuKingdomHearts3



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Cloud Raises Prompto, Dad!Cloud, Family Bonding, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kingsglaive!Cloud, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:36:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25904452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RikuKingdomHearts3/pseuds/RikuKingdomHearts3
Summary: Transported into a world not of his own, filled with magic unlike any other, Cloud Strife adjusted into his new life after being unable to find a way back home. With being stuck in a new world, Cloud Strife eventually ended up being a part of the Kingsglaive. On one particular mission, he stumbled upon an abandoned infant - one he didn't have a heart to leave him behind.Years passed and the baby had grown up under Cloud's care, with a name of "Prompto". One night the boy asked many questions as a child would, the likes of which would lead into Cloud having to decide whether to tell the truth of just who he was to him.
Relationships: Prompto Argentum & Cloud Strife
Comments: 14
Kudos: 92





	Forever Your Father

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I literally thought of this idea yesterday and wrote it all out. It is a random idea that just hit me in the moment and it became this. 
> 
> Anyways thanks to AshAuditore for help with the summary!

Prompto was 8-years-old when he woke up randomly to hearing the tea kettle going off at night. He blinked a few times, wondering if he had really even heard it to begin with, as it was pretty late into the night after all. But rather than going back to sleep and thinking it was just a dream, Prompto decided to venture down into the kitchen to see if there was really anything.

When he got down to the bottom stair, he peaked around the wall and saw that his father, Cloud, was sitting at the table. There was in fact a mug of tea before him, though currently he had his face resting in the palms of his hands.

"Dad?" Prompto asked as he came closer.

His father lifted his head slowly before he looked at Prompto. "Oh… hey kid, what are you doing up?"

"I heard the tea kettle. Why are you having tea so late?"

Cloud sighed as he went to rub his tired and sad looking eyes. There had been times before where Prompto caught his dad looking sad and distant, but it was never this severe looking. He couldn't understand why his dad would look so sad like this. He just wanted to know why.

"I just…" Cloud started to say, pausing for a moment to gather his words together. "I needed something to drink. Got a lot of thoughts right now, but nothing you need to worry about. Go back to sleep."

Prompto shook his head, disregarding his dad's words. He wasn't about to leave his dad to be sad and alone after all. Moving forward he crawled up into his dad's lap and smiled up at him. "Nope. If you're up, I'll stay up too. I'm here for you dad, don't forget it."

Cloud chuckled before he placed a hand on top of Prompto's head. His fingers began to ruffle and mess up Prompto's already messy bedhead hair. "Prompto, what would I ever do without you? You're my little sunshine that keeps me going."

"Always here for you dad!" Prompto beamed bright. "But why were you sad? Can't you tell me?"

Sighing Cloud dropped his hand from Prompto's head. He stared right into Prompto's eyes, still revealing the sad that had been hidden underneath his usual calm demeanor. "I'm just thinking about old times… times before you came into my life."

"Is it really that sad? What's so sad about it? That's what I don't get."

"Really, it's nothing. But thanks for coming to check in on me."

Prompto frowned slightly, seeing that his dad wasn't going to tell him why he looked so upset. Prompto sighed and was ready to crawl back off the bed when he noticed something on the kitchen table. There was the tea mug which he already knew, but there was something he failed to notice the first time. He had been so focused on his dad that he didn't even bat an eye at it the first time.

It was a small black picture frame and the picture was one that Prompto never had seen before. "What's this photo?" he asked aloud as he grabbed it to take a closer look.

The photo did feature his dad, but it also featured seven other people Prompto had never seen before. There was also a cat looking thing, and a strange looking red dog. As he stared at the photo, trying to make sense of it, he could hear Cloud letting out a long sigh.

"I was hoping you'd be too tired to notice that…"

"Huh?" Prompto asked as he looked at Cloud. "Why? Who are these people? How come I never heard or seen them before?"

The slightest chuckle escaped Cloud's lips. "Always so curious with so many questions aren't you?"

"Yup! So you can't refuse to answer my questions! I wanna help you feel better so I gotta know this stuff. Why does this photo make you sad?"

"It's a photo…" Cloud's eyes drifted to the image, the loneliness filling up again. "Of some old friends… You never met them before cause… they aren't from around here."

"Are they from outside the wall? Outside of Insomnia?" Prompto asked as he tilted his head to the side.

"Farther than that. A place you never heard of."

"Where? Maybe I learned in school already."

Cloud shook his head. "Nah, you wouldn't have. Maybe this would be best for another time."

Cloud was reaching out to take the photo when Prompto leaned back and held it tightly. "No! I wanna know who they are! Why is it sad!? Please dad, can't you tell me?"

Prompto pleaded with the biggest eyes he could make, and he could see that it was getting through to Cloud. His defenses were lowering and he was sighing again. "If I tell you, will you promise to go to sleep right after?"

"Of course! I promise!"

Wrapping an arm around Prompto, Cloud pulled him a little bit closer. "These friends of mine aren't from anywhere on this continent. In fact not anywhere on Eos."

"Then where are they? How can they not be from Eos?"

"They're from somewhere else entirely. A different world called Gaia."

Prompto gasped. "From another planet?! They're aliens?"

Cloud couldn't stop himself from laughing a little. "I guess you could say that. But honestly I don't know. I lived in Gaia then one day I woke up here. Never understood how or why…"

Prompto still didn't fully understand yet, but he felt like he was getting somewhere. "Was it before me? Before I was born?"

"Yes it was. I ended up here a few years before then. I was lucky when King Regis found me and he recruited me into the Royal Guard, that later was turned into the Kingsglaive."

"Then did you meet my mom?"

Cloud coughed, apparently choking on the air itself. "What?"

"My… mom?" Prompto asked again, this time a little softer.

He may have only been eight, but he knew other kids at school had moms. He'd always see them and hear other kids talk about them. But in all of his eight years, or at least the years when he was old enough to remember, he never had a mom. He had always wondered but he had never known how to ask his dad. The last thing he wanted to do was upset him, but now the question was out in the open.

"Prompto…" Cloud started to say as he lowered his eyes. Gently he took one of his hands and squeezed it tenderly. "I… I shouldn't have to keep this from you, but I'm just not sure if you're old enough to hear it."

"Keep… what from me? W-Why can't you tell me?" Prompto's bottom lip started to tremble. He wasn't sure why he felt so worried. He knew that he could always trust his dad to tell him the truth, but the fact he had been withholding something made him feel uncertain.

Cloud tried to keep his composure straight, but he was already starting to look wary. With both arms he hugged Prompto, pressing the boy's head to his chest. "The truth is… I never married anyone."

"Huh? But if you never married, how did…"

"Prompto…" Cloud pulled back from the hug and looked him straight into the eyes. "I want you to listen, okay? Just listen carefully to my words. I've never been good at explaining things, but I have been thinking about this for a while. I am your father and I always will be, but I'm… I'm not your biological father."

"Bio… logic… cal?" Prompto asked, feeling his voice crack a little. He didn't understand what it meant but from the way his dad looked at him, it must have been serious.

"It means having the same DNA, um… same like blood and stuff. What makes a child… related to his parents that he is born from…" Cloud fumbled over his words, looking exasperated by the end of it.

"I don't get it…" Prompto whimpered. "What does that mean?"

Cloud shook his head. "How about we forget this? I'll tell you when you're older."

"No!" Prompto shouted, the tears prickling in his eyes. "You gotta tell me now! You said you would tell me!

With a heavy sigh, Cloud closed his eyes. He breathed in a few times before opening them again, filled deep with sorrow once more. "I adopted you Prompto."

"How can you not be my dad!?" Prompto screamed. The tears that had once just started to fill his eyes were now streaming down his cheeks. "W-We look alike! How… Why aren't you my dad?"

"Prom," Cloud started, using the nickname as a way to hopefully calm the boy down. "I know we do look alike, it must be just a coincidence between our worlds. I don't know… but I am your dad. I adopted you and that gives me as much right as any father to be your dad."

Prompto wasn't hearing any of it though. He was too caught up in his own tears and sobs to listen properly. "No! You lied to me! You lied about everything!"

Dropping the picture frame from his hands he jumped off his father's lap and ran as fast as he could to the stairs. He staggered and stumbled up them until he made it to his room. He slammed the door as hard as he could before climbing up onto his bed and letting out the rest of his sobs.

Curling up on his bed he reached out for his little chocobo plush. He squeezed it against his chest and it let out a little 'kweh' sound as the result. It did help calm his nerves a little at least, but he was still so shaken from before. He still could not even begin to comprehend what he had just heard. It almost seemed too unbelievable. But all at the same time he knew his dad, if he could even call him that anymore, wasn't a cruel person. But the words of the supposed truth hurt him so much.

Cloud wasn't his real dad. He had never been his real dad from the very start. What did that mean for his real parents? Why did Cloud have to adopt him? Did something happen to his real parents? Or worse did they not want him? Prompto couldn't make any sense of it, but all he knew was that Cloud wasn't his real dad. Yet even though he wasn't his real dad, or biological as Cloud had said, he still always loved and cared for him. It made Prompto confused and upset, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to think anymore.

Within the next few seconds he heard a knock on his door and then it creaked open slightly. "Prompto? Can I come in?"

"No!" Prompto pouted as he buried his face further into his chocobo plush.

"Please? I just want to talk."

Prompto didn't reply as Cloud opened the door further. He walked into the door and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Prompto… I'm sorry, I didn't want to hurt you. I just didn't know when to tell you the truth."

"Why did you adopt me?" Prompto muttered. "Why am I adopted. What about my real parents?"

"I…" Cloud hesitated. "I don't know the full extent of it. I rescued you when on a mission to Niflheim. That's the easiest way to explain it. You were all alone in a place where no child should be, so I had to do what was right."

"Does… does it have to do with this?" Prompto asked as he held up his wrist that displayed the barcode. "Where you found me?"

"I believe so yes," Cloud answered. "It wasn't right for a child to be there. I took you back here to Insomnia and decided to raise you myself rather than just some family in the city. I felt like I had to and plus…"

"Plus?" Prompto asked as he turned over to his other side to look at his dad.

"Before I rescued you… I was all alone. I had spent four years on my own in this world. No friends, no family. Nothing other than that picture to remember what I was taken from. They were my family and I loved them… I still miss them to this day, but then I saw you. A child who was all alone… and something just clicked."

Reaching out Cloud placed his hand on top of Prompto's head. "I needed you. I wanted to give you a safe and good home, but I felt happy again when you were near."

"Happy? Cause you didn't feel alone?" Prompto sat up and moved closer to Cloud so he could sit next to him.

"Yeah that," Cloud stated simply. "With you in my life, I felt like I had a real purpose again… a second chance. I could have a family and feel happy."

"I made you happy?"

"Yeah… these past years raising you, they've been the best part of my life here. You're my sunshine, keeping me safe from darkness."

Prompto started to smile, feeling really good that his dad had said that. He still loved his dad a lot and was glad to be such a help to him. Throwing his arms around him, Prompto smiled cheerfully as he squeezed his dad in the tightest hug an 8-year-old could manage.

"I love you dad. I'm sorry I got mad at you and yelled at you.

"It's okay. I love you too, Prompty."

Prompto pouted childishly. "Not that nickname!"

"Oh?" Cloud asked, chuckling slightly. "You'd rather have 'sunny boy'?"

"No!" Prompto shouted, trying his best to not laugh.

"Choco-boy?"

"We're both chocobos!" Prompto exclaimed as he held up his chocobo plush over his head.

"That's right. My little chocobo," Cloud said before he wrapped his arms around Prompto and pulled him down to the bed. He moved his hands over Prompto's stomach and began to move them quickly.

Prompto burst out into laughter. "N-No! No t-tickling!"

"How about yes tickling?"

Prompto couldn't speak back through his laughs. He could only laugh until his father finally released him from the terrible tickle attack. Finally able to breath he cuddled up against Cloud's chest. "Do you wanna stay in my room tonight? That way you don't have to be alone and sad. I can be here for you!"

"Prom… thank you," Cloud whispered before pressing a kiss to Prompto's head. "I honestly don't know what I would do without you."

"We chocobos gotta stick together," Prompto giggled.

"That's right. Now come on little chocobo, how about we get some sleep, okay?"

Prompto hummed in agreement before he got himself under the covers. He snuggled up against his father once more and slowly started to fall asleep within the warm embrace of his one and only father. The father who loved him so much and he loved back with all his might. He no longer cared about the whole biological or adopted part, all that mattered to him was that he had a dad that loved him.

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline notes. Cloud was dropped into Eos after Advent Children timeline wise and was there three years before Prompto was born/created (which of course Prompto was recused a year after that). 
> 
> So in my mind, Cloud was wandering around Insomina for almost a year before Regis found him (Cloud probably did something notable in town and that caught his attention) and recruited him into the Kingsglaive (well first it was the Royal Guard but you get the picture). Three years later he is sent on that mission to the MT base and etc etc. Then he has a lot of talking probably with Regis and whomever else is concerned about letting him raise the baby (who he names Prompto). 
> 
> Also Cloud totally gels and spikes up Prompto's hair as a child to be 'more chocobo-like' just like his own hair. Though Prompto is totally jealous that Cloud's is just naturally chocobo styled. 
> 
> Also x2 yes this means that Prompto and Noctis are totally friends from an early age :)
> 
> Maybe one day I will add on to this, but for now just a little peak into this universe I made up. If you wanna hear more though if I ever choose to ramble on it, find me on Twitter and Tumblr as Claire Firedragon!


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